


Stitched Together

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Video Blogging RPF, Youtube RPF
Genre: Affection, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bad Touch, Caring, Concern, Creepy, Creepy Fluff, Crochet, Discovery, Dolls, Dysfunctional Family, Explanations, Games, Hugs, Imaginary Friends, Knitting, Mid-Canon, Multiple Selves, Nervousness, Post-Divorce, Reunions, Surprises, Teasing, Tenderness, Unresolved Romantic Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-16 01:25:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14801711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: Chase discovers that his daughter has been given an unusual gift. There’s something about it that unnerves him – something he can’t quite place.





	Stitched Together

**Author's Note:**

> Jack recently confirmed at one of his shows that one of Anti's hobbies is knitting/crocheting. Naturally I had to pick up this idea and make it terribly creepy. Apologies in advance...

Chase wasn’t sure where it had come from, but he didn’t like the look of it.

When Stacy had dropped off the kids for the weekend, everything had seemed just as it always was. Chase’s heart surged into his throat, creating a lump of emotion as Brianna and Connor each flew into one of his open arms. He kissed their foreheads fervently, unable to suppress a smile when they giggled about how ticklish his beard was, and then peeked up at Stacy.

“Make sure Connor wears his allergy wristband if you go out for food,” she instructed, keeping her voice even. Chase nodded wordlessly. It was the only greeting and the only goodbye between them.

Once Stacy’s car rolled away from the curb, Chase hugged his babies tight against his chest one more time before releasing them. “Alrighty, let’s go unpack!”

Unpacking was, surprisingly enough, one of Chase’s favorite activities to do with them. They’d get their little backpacks and suitcases laid out open in the living room and it would always be full of stuffed animals and toys they’d brought along for comfort. Chase would pick one up and gasp. “I’ve never seen this one before! Who’s this one? Is his name…Rata-tat the Rat?!”

“No!” Connor laughed, snatching the mouse and hugging it to his chest. “That’s Mickey!”

“Oh, I never would’ve guessed! And Brianna, this is a lovely tiger you’ve got here…I’ll bet his name is Tony! That’s still your favorite cereal, isn’t it?”

“Da-a-a-ad,” she groaned good-naturedly, shaking her head, “I named him Tom, after Mom’s friend!”

Chase’s grin froze for a solid three seconds before he remembered himself. “Well, that’s a great name too,” he announced brightly. “Now you know how this works; race off and put Tom and Mickey in your rooms! Whoever gets back here the fastest gets a mint!”

Whooping gleefully, the pair bolted away and Chase took a deep breath, bending over Brianna’s suitcase in search of the next stuffed toy he could tease her about. As he moved aside her shirts and skirts, he couldn’t help but notice how many of them were mediums. The last time he’d seen her, she was still wearing smalls. Shaking his head in grim wonder, he lifted the last folded skirt and paused.

There was a doll nestled in the midst of her bears and puppies. All the rest of the toys were familiar but this…As soon as he saw it, something in the pit of his stomach flinched.

He didn’t want to pick it up, but at the same time he couldn’t resist, gingerly scooping it up and cupping it in both hands as the thundering of little feet returned to him.

“Aww, you found Chase!” Brianna complained even as she reached him mere moments before her brother. “I wanted to show him to you later!”

“Where…where’d you get this?” Chase questioned, his eyes glued to the limp  _thing_  in his hands. It wasn’t like any other yarn doll he’d seen in his life; the yarn was coarse and prickly, unnaturally heavy in his hands, and its face…Chase couldn’t tear his gaze away from the dark X pupils stitched into its frighteningly wide blue eyes. Its mop of stringy green hair and its lumpy gray ball cap weighed on the doll’s head, making it sway loosely around on its neck as if it would fall off its shoulders at any moment.

Giggling, Brianna promptly snatched the Chase doll from her dad and hugged it tightly against her chest, seeming undisturbed by how ghastly it was. “My imaginary friend gave it to me,” she murmured shyly, rocking back and forth. “He’s the  _best_  at knitting and crocheting.”

“He?” Chase echoed, causing a slight blush to rise to his daughter’s cheeks before she ran off with the doll. Connor watched her go, staying quiet for a few moments before picking up his familiar favorite bear and holding it close with the same innocent love Brianna had for her doll.

“Daddy, can I have her mint since she didn’t take it?” he piped up.

Chase nodded distantly, brows furrowed in understated unease as he rifled through his pockets for his mint tin. “Sure. Sure, little dude.”

In the other room, Brianna pranced across her room with her specially made doll and then rushed to her bed, humming tenderly as she tucked it against her pillow and then began brushing its wild green hair away so she could gently brush her thumb over the small red X on the side of its forehead. She’d asked her imaginary friend what it was for once and he’d simply tilted his head and smiled, tossing the tail of his stark red scarf over his shoulder as he knelt before her.

“You do̵n'͢t ha͜v̶e̛ to w͡o͠r̛ry̡ about ͠that,” he purred, stroking her cheek affectionately. “I͠t ju̴sţ ̴me͢an̕s your da̶ddy’s a͞l̢w͘ays thi̷nking of ͡you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I warned ya.


End file.
